Details of Williams Acres sewers hammered out

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — For months now, representatives of the city of Gallup and McKinley County have been trying to work out an agreement that would get residents of Williams Acres, west of Gallup, tied into the city’s sewage system.

On Tuesday, the county commissioners approved an agreement that they hope will finally end the debate and complete the last hurdle for the $3.5 million project.

County Attorney Doug Decker said there were several areas that had to be discussed.

The first was how much would Williams Acres have to pay as a buy-in to get on the sewer line.

The city at first came up with a figure of more than $800,000 but the state environmental department, which would ultimately pick up the tab, said that was more than $100,000 too high. Eventually the city went down to $678,974.44 which means that after the county puts in its $250,000 contribution, the final buy-in will be $428,974.

The next was whether the residents of Williams Acres would have to pay the commercial rate — the highest the city has — or the rate that city residents pay, which is about $1.85 a month lower.

Decker said the agreement calls for residents to pay the commercial rate with the proviso that the rate would not go more than $2 over the residential rate. This, he said, would prevent the city from “jacking up the price.”

The third area was a tricky one.

The city, possibly hoping to prevent another situation like the one they faced in Gamerco over nonpayment of utility fees, wanted the county to guarantee that it would pay the fees if the residents did not.

“I would not recommend that,” Decker said.

Instead, the county is proposing that the Williams Acre Sewer and Water District, the entity that will oversee the collection of the payments, be required to set up a sewage assessment district if payments are not make. This would allow them to get bonds to pay off the debt and pass on the costs to pay off the bond to taxpayers in Williams Acres.

If the sewer and water district refuses to do this, the county would go ahead and do it, he said, pointing out that regardless of whether it is the district or the county that sets up the assessment district, it will be the county assessor’s and treasurer’s offices that will be responsible for setting and collecting the taxes.

A copy of the proposal was sent to City Attorney R. David Pederson several days before with the request that if he saw anything out-of-line to give a call to the county before Tuesday’s meeting, said Decker. No call has come in, so Decker said he thought the city was at least willing to discuss the proposal.

That’s expected to come up at the next City Council meeting Tuesday.